Just the Usual
by Amers3
Summary: Just a usual day in the life of Stephanie Plum. Babe Fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters you recognize belong to Janet the ones you don't I made up.

Chapter 1

Steph was sitting on the old worn couch listening to Connie complain about her date the night before.

"I mean what kind of guy just drops a girl off and leaves."

"He didn't try to get an invite?" Lula wanted to know.

"Nope. I got a peck on the cheek and he left."

"Well there has to be something wrong with him. I never met a guy that didn't at least try."

"I know."

Both girls looked at Steph waiting for her to add something. Steph opened her mouth having no idea what to say. Thankfully she didn't have to as Ranger walked in stopping all conversation.

"Babe."

Connie and Lula fanned themselves.

"Could I talk to you outside?"

Steph pushed off of the couch following Ranger through the door. She got in to the alley and was unceremoniously pushed against the rough brick wall. Steph's breath caught in her throat as Ranger's mouth covered hers. She let her arms go around his neck, pulling him closer. Ranger's hands were at her hips and were slowly making their way under her shirt.

"Uh…Boss?" Tank asked standing at the opening of the alley, smirking at the scene unfolding before him.

"Tank?" Ranger asked pulling away slightly so that his lips brushed against hers as he talked.

"We have a time frame." Ranger leaned his forehead against Stephanie's and cleared his throat.

"Babe, we've got a job in New York, you in?"

"Distraction?" Ranger nodded his head. "We'll have the usual crew, two on the inside with two in the back and Tank and myself at the front."

"What'd he do?" That was excessive even by Ranger's standards.

"The usual rape, murder, possession, assaulting a cop."

The usual? "Fun." My usual is public nudity.

"And he always travels with bodyguards."

"I take it it's my job to get him away from said bodyguards."

"Got it in one." Ranger watched as she thought it through. "So?"

"What do I wear?"

"Thanks Babe."

"You didn't answer me." Steph watched as Ranger started to leave. "Ranger?"

"Something that will get his attention, but something you can sit in the car with the guys in."

Steph watched Tank and Ranger get in the shiny black truck that was parked at the curb. Steph ran back inside the bond's office, "Lula we need to go shopping."

"You're supposed to be working." Vinnie said popping out of his office.

"We'll bring the files with us." Steph told him.

"Yeah never know with Steph's luck." Lula agreed.

Steph hopped into Lula's firebird and the two off them raced off towards the mall.

"So what are you looking for white girl?"

"I'm doing a distraction for Ranger in New York, he told me to make sure it was something that I could sit in the car with the guys in."

"We need something that won't wrinkle, then."

"Wrinkle?"

"It takes four hours to get to New York, you don't want to be all wrinkly when you get there."

"I was thinking something that wasn't too short."

"Un-huh."

Lula pulled into the mall and pulled into the first parking spot near Macy's, cutting off another car in the process. Lula and Steph got out of the car and ignoring the man that was driving the other car who was yelling at them. Lula only grabbed Steph's arm and dragged her to the front doors.

"I'm thinking that you should get something will keep Batman's eyes on you the whole night."

"Lula I have a job that I will have to be doing."

"So that don't mean that you can't look good."

"I have to sit in the car with the guys, I don't want to have to be worried about my skirt riding up."

"Girl, you have to learn to strut your stuff in the short stuff, look at me!" Lula turned in a little circle in the middle of the dress department. "Oh here look at this." Lula stopped mid-turn and picked a dress off the rack.

It was black, with a red and white design, with a halter-top. She fell in love with it immediately. "And I have shoes that will match it perfectly."

Steph took it out of her hands and went to go try it on. It fit beautifully. She came out to show Lula.

"Oh girl you have to get it."

"Lula it is too short."

"Nonsense girl its perfect. You have to get it." Lula shoved Steph back in to the dressing room. Steph didn't even bother trying to argue with Lula she loved the dress even if it was a tad too short. The guys had seen her in even shorter outfits.

With Steph's purchase in hand they made their way through the mall to Victoria's Secret.

Steph was looking through the bins waiting for Lula to finish trying her stuff on when her phone rang. She looked at the ID. Batman.

"Yo."

"Babe."

"What's up?"

"You almost ready?"

"I just got a dress, now I'm in Victoria's Secret waiting for Lula."

Silence answered her.

"Am I late?"

"Get something lacey."

Steph went to answer him but he had already hung up.

"Men."

"What's up girl?"

"Batman called."

"We got to go?"

"Yeah, I have to do my hair yet."

"Damn Skippy."

Lula and Steph made their way through the mall. Steph had to deter Lula only once from stopping in another store.

Lula dropped Steph off in front of her apartment building, the bass pounding as she drove away.

Steph made her way to the elevator where it was empty, Mrs. Bestler wasn't in the elevator today. It was weird that now Steph looked forward to see what she was going to say that day.

It took another hour but Steph finally deemed herself ready to go. She called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself."

"Ready Babe?"

"All set."

"Be there in ten."

In that time Steph rechecked her makeup and packed everything she would need in her purse.

A/N: Let me know what you think or if I really need a BETA. Or a suggesting for where the story line should go.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The characters you recognize belong to Janet the ones you don't I made up.

**Chapter 2**

"Boss, you sure you want the Bombshell messing with Ricky Scallizo. You know how she gets them stalkers, and he'd be a bad one to try to get rid of."

"You worried about her Tank?"

"Well…yeah. Aren't you?"

"She can take care of herself."

"Sure she can, but I still don't want to see Bomber tangle with Scallizo." Lester voiced from the back seat.

"What we mean is, Boss, is that we don't want to see her get hurt." Bobby agreed.

"She'll be fine." Ranger growled at them.

Ranger pulled in front of Steph's building.

"You want us to go in with you Boss?" Tank smirked.

"Stay here." Ranger was half way out of the car when Lester spoke up.

"Ten minutes Ranger, then we're coming up."

Ranger ignored him and headed towards the building.

When Steph heard her door open she was ready to go.

"Babe." Ranger's hand settled on the back of her neck. She turned in to him.

"Ranger."

"Where's your bag?"

"My bag?"

"It's overnight Babe."

"What? You never said anything about overnight." Steph ran back into her room and began digging through her closet.

"Babe?"

"Hmm."

"I thought we agreed you'd wear something you could ride in the car with the guys with."

"You don't like this?" Steph spun around her dress flaring out showing more of her thighs.

Ranger's eyes went dark as grabbed an outfit out of her closet and threw it in to her bag. "Let's go."

Ranger grabbed her bag and carried to the door. He turned around to see what was taking Steph so long and saw her bending over to put on four-inch heels in black. He watched the skirt pull tight over her ass, as she pulled on the second shoe.

Ranger dropped the bag in the doorway and walked up behind her and waited until she stood up. Her back was right up against his front; he settled his hands on her shoulders and turned her around.

"I think you should change."

"Ranger."

"Babe."

Ranger leaned down and kissed her, his hands going down around her to settle on her hips. He pulled her closer so that she could feel the way that she affected him. Steph moaned her arms going up around his neck. Ranger began leading her back wards towards the bedroom, but they never got there.

"Come on man." Lester yelled out as the door swung open.

Bobby was laughing openly in the doorway and Tank was shaking his head. Lester came over and grabbed Steph's arm. "How about we go down to the car so the Boss can cool off." Lester stopped to grab Steph's bag on the way out, grinning over his shoulder at the guys.

Ranger went to go after them, but Bobby and Tank both put their hands up to stop him.

"Boss, man, I think Santos is right you need a moment to calm down." Tank grinned.

Ranger shook his head and pushed past them. It was going to be a long car ride.

Ranger went out to the car to see Steph sitting in the backseat besides Lester laughing at whatever he was saying. He went over and opened the front door. He got in without saying anything.

Bobby hopped in the back on the other side of Steph and Tank climbed in the front seat. Ranger turned in his seat to look at Steph, but whatever he was going to say was lost when he saw how high the skirt had ridden up.

Ranger cleared his throat and turned back around. Steph gave him a weird look that he caught in the rear view mirror.

"I saw that." He let her know, keeping his eyes on her in the mirror. Steph made eye contact with him in the mirror and stuck her tongue out at him. Ranger shook his head and turned his attention to the road.

An hour into their trip Ranger still never achieved his 'zone' that Steph was always kidding him about. He couldn't keep his mind off of Stephanie's outfit. He was berating himself for picking the driver's seat instead of climbing in next to Steph. She and the guys were joking around back there, playing every imaginable car game ever invented. When they started playing the alphabet game for the fifth consecutive time he had to stop it.

"Alright." Ranger said startling Steph.

She turned her head towards him, her eyes wide, "You never talk when you're driving."

Ranger's lips tilted upwards in his version of a smile. "This is like any other distraction job. First we will stop at the hotel so we won't have to worry about checking in afterwards. We don't know how late this is going to go." Ranger nodded at Tank.

"We will be getting three rooms, each with two beds in them. Bomber will have a room to herself. Lester, Bobby you two are together…." Tank continued for Ranger, but was interrupted.

"You're assigning rooms? What are we on a high school field trip?" Bobby snorted.

"Do we have a certain time that we have to be in as well?" Lester asked, him and Bobby laughing in the backseat.

"Enough." Ranger silenced them. "Okay the skip's name is Ricky Scallizo. I have brought him in before. He likes to go after married women, it ups his ego to go after another man's woman."

"A man's woman? They're not property Ranger." Steph told him.

"Babe that is how _he_ thinks."

"Better be." Steph crossed her arms over her chest staring at Ranger. Bobby and Lester on either side of her were covering their mouths trying not to look like they were laughing.

"Anyways, since I've went after him before I won't be able to be on the inside this time. Steph, Lester you guys are going to be the inside couple, with Bobby as your backup. Tank and I will be covering the front while Slick and Manny will have the back.

Questions?"

"Where are Slick and Manny now?" Steph asked.

"They're already there, anything else?" When no said anything, Ranger nodded and went back to driving. Shortly after that he looked up again in the rear view mirror to glance at Steph. Her head was leaning on Lester's shoulder and she was asleep. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Tank's shoulders shaking. Ranger glared at him.

"You're pathetic man. Can't keep your eyes off of her."

Ranger chose to ignore him and turned his attention entirely to the road, finally getting into his 'zone.'

A/N: Again just let me know of any mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

Standard Disclaimer Applies

Chapter 3

Ranger pulled up in front of their hotel and got handing the keys to the valet. "We'll be right back out."

The valet nodded his head as he took the keys to the car. Ranger turned to wake Steph up and was surprised to see Lester picking her up. Bobby and Tank were getting their luggage out of the back of the car. Lester started towards the doors carrying Steph, Bobby and Tank were right alongside of them holding the doors open for them.

"Ranger you coming?" Bobby yelled back. From Ranger was standing he saw Lester shoot Bobby a dirty look and Tank hit him on the back of the head. Ranger jogged up next to him and saw that Bobby had woken Steph up.

"You should have woken me; you didn't have to carry me Lester."

"It was no problem Beautiful."

Ranger went up to the desk to get their room keys. He came back handing a key to Steph and another one to Lester. No one said anything as the waited in the elevator that was carrying them up to the fifth floor. Everyone, now carrying their own bags, trudged out of the elevator and made it to their respective rooms.

Steph opened up her door to find that she had two single beds and a window that looked out over the street.

Ranger and Tank opened their door to the left of Stephanie's and were surprised to see that they had a single queen sized bed.

Lester and Bobby who were on Stephanie's right also found that they had a single queen in their room. Lester went over and knocked on the connecting door to Steph's room.

"Yeah?" Steph asked surprised when she opened the door.

"How many beds you got?"

"Two why?" Steph stuck her head further into the room and laughed.

"Wanna switch?" Lester asked her.

"Sure." Steph grabbed her stuff and brought it into her new room. She heard knocking come from the other connecting door in the other room.

"Yeeeess." Lester said as he opened the door.

"What are you doing in here Santos?" Ranger growled at him.

"We switched rooms."

Ranger looked in to the middle room and saw the two twin beds. "You guys get a single bed too?"

"No, Stephanie does."

Ranger ran a hand over his face. "We can deal right?"

Tank spoke from behind Ranger, "I'm not going to share a bed."

"Grow up man." Bobby told him from his spot on one of the beds.

Tank pushed past Ranger. "Tell me you didn't have the same problem sleeping next to Santos."

"Are you kidding he'd think I was one of his dates in the middle of the night. Gross."

Steph poked her head in through the other connecting door, she was laughing. "What's going on?"

"You mind if I share a bed with you Beautiful?" Lester asked her.

"No she is going to share with me, right Bomber?" Bobby asked her.

Steph stood in the doorway with a confused look on her face. "Why do we need to share?"

"We're short a bed, Babe."

"You guys sleep outside, in jungles, with bugs and you're afraid to sleep next to another guy?" Steph was laughing at them.

"Come on Bomber don't you want to share?"

"Who do you want to share with, Beautiful?"

"She doesn't have a choice." Ranger let them all know. "Tank will crush her if he rolls over in his sleep, and I don't trust either of you with her." Tank snorted and tossed Ranger's bag in next to him and shut the door to his room.

Ranger picked up his duffle bag and moved to go through the door into Steph's room, but she didn't move out of his way. Ranger stopped and looked at her.

"That wasn't you telling me what to do was it?"

"Of course not, that was me asking if I could stay in your room."

"Was it?"

"Babe."

Steph stood in the door way waiting. The guys were laughing behind him and he was having trouble trying to figure out what Steph was waiting for.

"Stephanie, I was hoping that I could stay with you because Tank snores."

The three of them burst out laughing and Steph smiled at him letting him into her room.

"Thank you, Ranger."

"It was worth it."

Steph made a face behind his back.

"I saw that."

"No you didn't."

"Come on we have to get a move on, or we'll be late." Ranger took Steph's hand and led her out of their room. Tank was by the elevators waiting to go down. Ranger knocked sharply on the guys' door and headed over to the elevator that had just arrived.

"Wait for us." Bobby and Lester came sprinting out of their room and into the elevator just before the doors closed.

"You didn't even try to keep the doors open." Bobby complained.

Steph was smiling and Ranger was giving them a look that told them they were headed to a third world country.

"So…" Lester started in, putting an arm around Steph, "Mrs. Santos are you ready to have an argument?"

"I believe I am Mr. Santos." Steph was smiling at him and Lester couldn't resist teasing the boss a little. He leaned down and kissed her as the elevator doors opened up to the lobby.

Surprised Steph stood still, but Ranger could move fine. He knocked Lester's arm off her shoulders and dragged Steph off towards the car.

Tank shook his head and followed his friend who had obviously fallen for the little burg girl. Lester and Bobby were mimicking Ranger dragging Steph away, laughing the entire time.

"Alright Babe, we'll all be wired. You'll have the transmitter on you like you normally do." Ranger went to stick it in her bra, but the guys were all staring, waiting to see him do it. "Here." Ranger just handed it off to her.

"Come on, Ranger." Lester took the transmitter from Steph, "This is where it goes."

Lester put his hand on Steph's waist to bring her closer to him, but Ranger slapped it away. Ranger took the transmitter from Lester and passed it back to Stephanie. Steph turned and quickly tucked the transmitter away.

Ranger nodded to Steph when she was done, he helped her into the SUV and then drove them to the bar. Ranger dropped Bobby off first and then circled around a few times before dropping Lester and Steph off.


	4. Chapter 4

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

Chapter 4

Lester and Steph were just dropped off in front of the club where Bobby was already on the inside. Bobby was sitting at the bar and pointed out Ricky with a nod when they got inside. Ricky was nursing a cold one at the bar. Steph made Lester dance with her a couple times before they went over to the bar. While dancing they tried to come up with a plan to make the argument seem real but the other would always nix it.

Steph sat down on a bar stool and ordered a glass of wine. When she looked up to see how Lester wanted to do this, she saw him watching another woman.

"You jerk," she shrieked, making Lester jump. "How dare you watch some other girl! Or did you forget about little old me?"

"Come on Beautiful you know it wasn't like that?" Lester's shock quickly faded away and he went with it.

"Oh really? Then how was it?"

"It wasn't like I was going to do more than look."

Steph made a noise in the back of her throat that came out as a half gasp that ended in a squeak.

"Why I guess you can do more than look now, get away from me."

"But Beautiful…"

"But nothing, go, leave."

Lester sulked off to go after the blonde he had been watching earlier.

Steph sat at the bar and mumbled into her wine glass.

"You know him long?" Ricky asked her.

Steph was surprised that he had started up the conversation; she had been stuck on a way to introduce a conversation with him.

"Unfortunately, yes, I'm married to him."

"Bummer." Ricky sounded sympathetic but Steph could see the gleam in his eye. Steph chugged the rest of her wine and turned towards the dance floor.

"Look at him; he has already forgotten that I am here." Lester was dancing super close to his new little blonde friend.

"How about you give him a taste of his own medicine?" Ricky looked her up and down like she was lunch.

Steph screwed up her face to make it look like she was thinking about it. When all she could do was keep her self from gagging.

"Yeah, I like that idea." Steph stood up and watched as everything blurred together and then spun around her. She stood still for a minute waiting for everything to calm down; maybe she had stood up to fast. It had been only a single glass of wine, maybe she had drunk it a little fast but she certainly shouldn't have been swaying already.

"You okay Baby?"

"Umm, yeah. I'm coming."

Steph was able to make it through one dance with Ricky but every time she moved too fast the room spun around her. She knew something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what had happened.

"I'm sorry but I have to sit down." Steph told Ricky.

Steph sat heavily on a stool by the bar; Ricky was leaning in closing to her.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I think I just need some air."

"Okay, here let me help you." Ricky stood up and offered his arm.

Steph grabbed her purse off of the bar and went to lead the way towards the exit, but her vision blurred again. She swayed where she was standing.

Lester watched as Steph stood swaying next to the skip. He couldn't decide if he should go over and help her or not. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Bobby inch his way closer to where Steph was standing.

"I don't think…" Steph tried to get out, but the dizziness took over. Her knees went out and she collapsed on the floor, the darkness over taking her.

Ricky stood there stunned, "What the hell, lady?"

She didn't move.

Ricky scoped her up in a panic and made for the exit. He made it out the doors when he ran in to two men in black and he recognized one of them.

"Put her down." Ranger ordered him.

"Look, Manoso, I can't go with you right now."

"Hand her over right now." Ricky looked over his shoulder to see the husband standing there.

"Look I don't know what happened."

"What did you give her?"

"I didn't give her anything."

"Where were you going to take her?"

"The hospital."

"The hospital?" Her husband asked dubiously.

"Yeah, I don't who she is but all of a sudden she just went down, right in front of me."

"Shit." Tank said under his breath.

Lester slowly went towards him and was surprised when Ricky handed Steph over without a problem. Lester left the guys to deal with Ricky and went and loaded Steph into the SUV. "Come on guys we have to get her to the hospital."

Ranger grabbed Ricky and slapped a pair of cuffs on him, shoving him towards the SUV.

"Umm, Rangeman, we all ain't going to fit." Tank pointed out.

"We can't leave him, he'll rabbit." Ranger told Tank, Ricky was nodding his head in front of Ranger agreeing with him. Ranger pushed Ricky towards the car, "Bobby catch a ride with Slick and Manny." Then to the skip he said. "Hurry up."

Ricky was loaded into the back of the SUV along side Lester who was holding Steph in his lap. Tank sat turned in the passenger seat watching Steph. Ranger hopped into the driver's seat and took off towards the hospital.

Ranger pulled up in front of the hospital not even fifteen minutes later and parked right in front of the doors. Tank was out of the car before it even came to a full stop and was opening the door for Lester. Lester carried the unconscious Steph into the hospital, where they were immediately swarmed by medical personal. Ranger went running in after them tossing the keys to Tank, with the orders of "Bring him in."

Inside Lester was trying to answer the questions the doctor was asking him.

"What happened?"

"She collapsed at a club after only consuming a single glass of wine."

"She allergic to any medications?"

Lester stood there looking down at Steph who was now on a bed. Lester was just about to tell the doctor that he didn't know when Ranger answered.

"No."

The doctor looked up at him and nodded going back to work on Steph, listening to her heartbeat, taking her pulse.

"Any medical problems that could pose a problem for us?"

"None."

"If you guys could go out to the waiting room, someone will be out with the necessary forms for you to fill out."

Ranger looked like he was going to argue but Lester had pulled him from the room.

"Let the doctors do their job Rangeman, she'll be fine."


	5. Chapter 5

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

**Chapter 5**

Less than an hour later the doctor came out of Steph's room to find that another four men were in the waiting room.

"Well there is good news and bad news."

"Always is." Lester responded.

The doctor looked taken back, "Right. The good news is that she is fine and will be up and about shortly. She may be a little groggy about where she is but other than that she is fine and cleared to go home. The bad news is that the reason she collapsed was a drug called Halcion was laced with her drink. Halcion is used to help insomniacs sleep, so the only thing that happened was that, due to the amount, it knocked her out. We were able to pump her stomach and get it all out, so other than feeling a little hungry there will be no ill side-effects."

The doctor stood there waiting for any questions, but when none of the men said anything he left.

"What are we going to do, Boss?" Manny asked.

"You and Slick go back to the bar and see what you can find out. Question the bartender, see who made her drink."

The guys nodded and headed out.

"We'll stay in the hotel tonight and then leave in the morning. One of you call room service and make sure that there is food in the room."

Tank nodded. "On it."

Ranger got up and went down the hall to see how Steph was doing. He quietly opened her door and slipped inside. He was surprised to find that she was already awake and sitting up in the bed.

"Babe."

"What happened? I remember being in the bar and then boom I'm here. I hate hospitals."

"I know, Babe. Looks like someone spiked your drink."

"The skip?"

"Not the one from tonight, he didn't have enough time or the opportunity to do it. Besides you already had your drink when he approached you."

Steph nodded, "When do I get out of here?"

"As soon as you're ready."

Steph threw the covers off of her and jumped up out of the bed. She swayed on her feet for a moment and held her head. "I guess I can't move too fast yet."

"Just take it slow."

Ranger guided Steph back down the hall to where the guys where sitting. Steph sat down with them, while Ranger went to sign the discharge papers.

"How you doing, Bomber?"

"I'm okay Bobby, we know who did it yet?"

"We're working on is Steph." Tank told her.

"I should have been there, Beautiful."

"It's not your fault Lester, we did everything according to the plan. You can't help that Murphy's Law has nothing on me."

The guys were laughing as Ranger walked back in.

"Ready to go, Babe?"

"Yeah, but can we stop for food, I'm starving."

"Babe, room service should've dropped off food for you."

"There better be dessert."

"Babe." Ranger told her sending a quick glance in Tank's direction. Tank nodded at him letting him know that he had ordered dessert for her.

ooooooooo

Stephanie worked her way through all of the food that Tank had ordered up for her. She even ate the salad and the vegetables that was how hungry she was. While Steph ate Ranger tried to work on his laptop but was distracted by the moans that were coming from Steph.

"Jeez, Beautiful we can hear you in our room." Lester commented poking his head through the open connecting door.

Steph grinned and bit into the cake she was eating making an exaggerated moan. Lester laughed both at her and the pained look that he saw on Ranger's face.

"We're going out for a little while." Lester told them

"We leave at 0900 tomorrow." Ranger told him.

"What?" Steph shrieked. "Why that early?"

Lester laughed at her as Ranger shook his head.

"We'll be ready, Boss." Lester said as he closed the connecting door behind him.

"Why do we have to leave so early tomorrow?"

"It'll take four hours to get back tomorrow and I still have to prepare a team for a take down tomorrow night." Ranger went back to work on his laptop.

Steph nodded at him and went to go take a shower and get ready for bed.

When Steph stepped out of the bathroom she was wearing a tank top and shorts. Ranger was still typing away at his computer, ignoring him as best as she could she dumped her clothes into her bag. While kept most of his attention on his computer he was still able to watch Stephanie. As she dumped her clothes back in to her bag he saw the black lace that went in. Ranger closed his eyes hoping that that was what she had gotten at Victoria's Secret when he had called. Steph oblivious to Ranger's watchful eye went over to the bed and pulled the covers down and slid in under them. She tucked herself in and was asleep in minutes.

Ranger watched as she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When he was sure she was asleep he powered down his computer and went to go take a cold shower before climbing in beside her.

He walked out of the bathroom in the towel and stood looking at Steph sleep. He reached into his bag and grabbed out his sweat pants and pulled them on.

Ranger walked over to the bed and drew the covers down. As he slid in behind her, Steph turned over, causing Ranger to freeze. He waited until Steph stopped moving then proceeded to climb in to the bed. As he pulled the covers up over himself Steph turned and draped herself over him.

He lay there trying to fight his reaction, but it was no use, the cold shower he had taken hadn't been enough. Steph laid her head on his shoulder and one of her legs over his. He lay there only a moment before deciding to put his arms around her and pull her closer.

And that was how the guys found them the next morning when neither of them had shown up for breakfast.

"Aww, they look so cute." Lester said pulling out his phone to snap a picture.

Bobby leaned over the two of them using a finger to softly draw line down Steph's cheek and then back up towards her ear. Steph grumbled something and twitched her face, trying to bury it deeper into Ranger's shoulder. Bobby was just about to start in on her again when Ranger suddenly opened his eyes.

"What the hell?" Ranger said sitting up and accidentally dumping Steph off of him.

"What's going on?" Steph mumbled and buried her head into her pillow.

"It's 0830 beautiful; you have half an hour to get ready." Lester told her.

"What?" Steph leaped up and flew into the bathroom before they could say anything else.

Ranger sat there glaring at them. But before he could yell at them Tank spoke up. "I told you guys to just call them, didn't I?"

"Come on Tank, you wanted to know what was keeping the Boss just as much as we did. Calling would have just given him the chance to lie to us." Lester said, with Bobby nodding behind him.

"Just get out of here." Ranger told them through gritted teeth.

"Come on Rangeman you know how they are." Tank tried to defend them after they fled the room.

Ranger used both hands to rub his face before sliding his hands up into his hair.

"Just a heads up," Tank continued. "They will probably be cracking jokes about morning wood all day. You better get some comebacks thought out." Tank left the room laughing.

Ranger sat in the bed waiting for Steph to get out of the bathroom. The thin sheet covering him did nothing to hide the fact that waking up with Stephanie wrapped around him had aroused him.

Ranger got up and went to knock on the door to see what was taking so long. "Babe?"

"Almost done."

"You have ten minutes."

Ranger heard her disgusted sigh through the bathroom door. As Ranger waited he stowed his laptop in his bag and packed his clothes in his suitcase. When Steph came out she was ready for the day, in jeans and a t-shirt.

"I called room service they are sending food up for the two of us." With that Ranger disappeared in to the bathroom leaving Steph to pack her bag.

A/N: It is Exam time, I'll get to the next chaper after I finish cramming.


	6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

**Chapter 6**

When Ranger came out of the shower Steph was halfway through her breakfast and her bag was sitting on the bed packed and ready to go.

They ate their breakfast quietly and were waiting for the elevator to arrive when the guys joined them.

No body said anything as they took the elevator down to the lobby. While Ranger went to go check them out they brought their bags to the car and got in.

"You aren't mad about this morning are you, Beautiful?" Lester asked sliding a glance at her to where she was sitting between him and Bobby.

"Yeah, Bomber, we didn't mean anything by it." Bobby added on, the two of them looking at her expectantly.

"Of course I'm mad." Surprised Tank turned around in his seat. "You guys only gave me a half an hour to get ready. What girl wouldn't be mad?"

The guys sat staring at her with their mouth agape that is when Ranger got into the car.

He looked at Tank who was staring at Steph and turned around to find both Bobby and Lester staring at her with the same expression their faces. Ranger raised an eyebrow towards Steph wanting an explanation but Steph only shrugged.

Once again Lester, Bobby and Steph played every car game invented and then some on the way home.

They were just within sights of Trenton when Lester screamed out 'Z' dragging Ranger out of his zone. Ranger glanced over at Tank to see if he was going to say anything and was surprised to hear. "Damn it he beat me again."

Ranger pulled into Steph's apartment complex's parking lot and got a spot right near the doors.

"I hate how you do that." Steph said getting out of the car.

"I'll be right back down." Ranger told the guys and headed around the back of the car to get Steph's bag. Ranger followed Steph into the building without a word. He did his usual run through of the apartment and found it clear.

"Babe…"

"Yeah I know the dust bunnies are horrible."

"Yeah that too, but I want you to stay at Rangeman." Ranger told her with his blank face in place.

"Ranger…"

"Just until we figure out what happened at the bar. Whoever did could try to do it again."

"But…"

"Babe, my place is safer."

"That's a pretty lame come on line, Batman." As soon as it was out of her mouth Steph was covering her mouth, wishing she could take it back.

"Babe, you're lucky my guys are waiting for me."

Steph let out a sigh, "I'd have to stop by my parents and the office first, but then I could swing by."

"I'll pick you up from here in," Ranger looked down at his watch. "Two hours." Ranger didn't wait for an answer he just turned and silently made his way out of the apartment.

Back in the car Ranger started the car and started giving orders to the guys. "I want you three plus Brett and Woody working on finding out who is after Steph. Have Woody and Brett check through her old skips to see who is out and made a trip to New York recently. Lester you and Bobby go through that list to see who has a prescription for Halcion. Tank, you will check with the Slick and Manny on the information they got from the bartender and check with the owner to see if any other occurrences have happened there."

The guys all nodded back at him; Tank already had his phone out relaying Ranger's orders to Brett and Woody.

Steph had no idea that Ranger was going all out trying to find the guy that slipped her the really strong sleeping pill. She really wasn't that worried about, isn't denial grand? Steph walked around her small apartment packing a couple outfits that she would bring to Rangemen and talking to her self.

"It happened to New York, Rex, I don't think that I have that much to worry about. I don't even have any outstanding skips that I'm suppose to bring in. I mean all of the skips I bring in would be too lazy to follow me, right? I mean if I have to drag them out of their house, they aren't going to leave it on their own to go on a four hour trip, right?"

Steph looked over at Rex as she placed her full overnight bag by the door. Rex seemed to be agreeing with her. That's all she needed.

Steph decided that she couldn't put off going to her parent's house any longer. She made sure she gave Rex a grape on her way out the door and headed to her car. She trudged through her parking until she got to her car, where it was parked next to the dumpster as always.

She got in and prayed that it would turn on. The first time she tried it, it made that choking sound of a dying car. Steph closed her eyes and hung her head down hitting the steering wheel. One more time, she thought and then she would call her dad.

She picked her head back up, opened her eyes and tried the key again. Magically the car started, thank god. She pulled out of her spot and headed to her parents' house.

As she pulled up to the curb in front of their house she saw her mother and grandmother standing in the doorway. She wished she knew how they did that but she knew if she asked she would get a long winded discussion on knowing when your children where around. That would get turned into the fact that she didn't have any children, and that in turn would lead to the fact that she was single. And she was single because she had left Joe and then it would lead to Joe Morelli being her last chance.

Steph sat in the car debated if she should get out of not. When she saw her mother reaching for the door handle she knew her mother would never forgive her if she just started the car again and left, if the car started that is.

Steph angled her self out of her car and slowly made her way up the sidewalk to the door. Why had she thought that this would have been a good idea?

"Stephanie, why were you just sitting in the car? What will the neighbors think?" Her mom started in on her before she reached the door.

"Hi grandma," Steph said entering the house, "any good viewings tonight?"

"Not tonight but tomorrow there is Alan Erterk. I heard that they used a new kind of process on him, I can't wait to see what he looks like!"

"Mother, really." Ellen Plum walked into the kitchen leaving the two of them in the living room.

"She's tippling again. Has been all day, we keep getting phones calls about you going away with that bounty hunter with the nice package. So is it true, did you two elope?"

"WHAT? No, I helped Ranger bring in a skip last night that's all."

"Why didn't you come home afterwards then?" Her mother poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Because it was in New York and it would have been too long of a drive."

"Why me?" Steph could hear her mother proclaiming from the kitchen.

"I think it's about time. You and Joseph have been over for a month now, it's about time that bounty hunter made a play for you."

"Grandma we aren't like that."

"If I were you I'd have jumped on that man first chance I got."

"Mother!"

"All right Grandma, maybe I'll go now, I just want to let you know that I'd be staying at Rangemen for a night or two."

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, what is going on? Do you have another person after you? Why me? Karen Korvick's daughter never has people chasing her? Bertha Hemge's daughter never goes and stays with strange men."

"Mom, Ranger's not strange. He just doesn't eat dessert." Ellen just gave her a look that told her she had just made her point.

Steph waited while her mother complained about Steph leaving Joe, said good-bye to Grandma Mazur, snagged a piece of cake off of the counter and then escaped to the car. Whew. That was a bad idea, even if she did get cake.

Steph drove over to the Tasty Pastry needing some sugar after listening to her mother for half an hour and that piece of cake didn't even last the drive there. Step got her dozen and went to her next stop, the office.

When Steph first walked into the office the bright fuchsia spandex outfit that Lula was wearing blinded her.

"Where have you been?" Connie asked.

"Are there files for me?"

"Nope, no one is jumping."

"Then why have you been looking for me?"

"Please, girlfriend you shop for a new dress to go work with Batman and then you disappear. Where were you this morning?" Lula huffed.

"I bet she stayed with the wizard." Connie told her.

"I bet it was the dress, I told you that dress was the shit."

Steph listened to the two of them trying to decide where she was this morning. When they got to the part of her and Ranger eloping she stopped them.

"How the hell did that rumor start? My mother got phone calls about us eloping too."

"Well did you?"

"No of course not, I helped Ranger get a skip in New York."

"New York? Did you go shopping?" Connie asked excitedly.

"She can go shopping here," Lula gave Connie a look. "What about the clubs girl, did you go to all of them?"

"No I got knocked out after my first drink."

"Geez girl you are a lightweight."

"No I mean someone spiked it."

"How come that crazy shit always happening to you?"

The three of them sat there for a minute pondering that. Well okay they were really just eating their donuts.

Steph filled them in the best she could on her incident the night before, but it wasn't much.

"So I'm going to go stay at Rangemen."

"With Batman?"

"No." Steph said being saved from having to explain as her phone rang. Steph had to fumble around in her purse for a minute but she was able to find it before it went to her voicemail. "Yo."

"Yo yourself."

"Hey." Steph looked down at her watch; oops she was late to meet Ranger. "I'm on my way." She told him even though she was sure he had already hung up.

Steph waved good-bye to the girls and hightailed it back to her apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

Standard Disclaimer Applies, the ones you recognize aren't mine.

**Chapter 7**

After hitting every single red light on the way she finally made it to her apartment. She parked next to the dumpster, which was slowly becoming her unofficial spot. She looked up at her apartment window but the lights were off, maybe Ranger hadn't stayed. She sighed and walked in to her building. Saying hello to Mrs. Bestler who was once again announcing the floors in the elevator.

"Second floor, lost children, runaway dogs, and missing socks."

Steph shook her head, as she got off of the elevator, thankful that it had nothing to do with men and lingerie.

When Steph got to her door she tried the knob and found it locked, hoping Ranger was in there she knocked, which was kind of weird since it was her own door. Giving up on the easy way Steph dug around in her purse to find the ever elusive keys. As always they were at the bottom in a place she had already swept her hand. You'd think since they clanked and made a lot of noise they would be easy to find.

Steph swung her door open and then closed and locked it. Even though everyone can break into her apartment she would get a little warning this way.

She walked into the kitchen and plopped her shoulder bag on to the counter. She saw that her living room was empty and found herself disappointed that Ranger hadn't waited for her.

Steph looked over at her answering machine; maybe he had left a message. The light was blinking. She went over to it and saw that she had five new messages. She crossed her fingers and hit the play button.

First new message the mechanical voice told her. "Oh My God." Mary Lou's voice screamed into the room, "I heard you eloped with Ranger, I want details."

Second new message. "Stephanie this is your mother." Then there were the sounds of a tussle. "Give me the phone Ellen. Steph, I heard you eloped with the bounty hunter with the nice package. Mother," Her mom wrestled the phone back. "Steph I expect the both of you for dinner." That must have been from earlier this morning.

Third new message. "Hey cupcake, I heard you and Ranger finally tied the knot. Call me and let me know what really happened." Well at least he didn't sound pissed.

Fourth new message. At first she thought it was a hang up. Then she thought it was Ranger, but then the creepy voice that she associated with stalkers came on. "Stephanie, I saw you. Next time I see you, you won't just be falling asleep. You'll be seeing me soon."

Fifth new message. "Hey beautiful. We checked out your old skips, looks like none of them have been to New York recently. Though a couple of them are on Halcion, if you could stop by tomorrow and check out the list so we could narrow it down."

Hmm. No Ranger.

He could have had an account nearby that needed looking into. One of his guys could have been hurt and he had needed to get to the hospital. Maybe one of her stalkers had gotten in and…no he could have taken one of her stalkers down. He could have…. Steph was going through all of what may have happened that she wasn't aware of her surroundings at all.

"Babe?"

Stephanie screamed and clutched a hand to her beating heart. "Make some noise. Where the hell where you?"

"Babe you walked right past me in the parking lot. I thought you were coming up to grab your bag and come back down."

"I didn't even notice you."

Ranger raised an eyebrow at that.

Steph just went over and grabbed her purse off of the counter. Then she made her way to the door, but was blocked by Ranger.

"Um Ranger you have to move."

Ranger didn't say anything.

"Okay, look I'm sorry I wasn't aware of my surroundings. I saw that my light was off in my apartment when I pulled up so I thought you left to go save the world."

"Babe." Ranger slung his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the apartment, stooping to pick up her bag on the way out.

"Feels kind of light, Babe."

"Yeah, I figured if I needed more you'd let me come back."

Ranger shook his head and waited while she locked up her apartment door. Steph froze before she could lock up the door.

"I almost forgot the message."

"What message?"

"That the creepy guy left."

Ranger raised an eyebrow and opened Steph's apartment door. "Show me."

"No it's on the machine." Steph hit the play button.

"Oh My God." Mary Lou started off but Steph hit the skip button before Ranger could hear anymore of that message.

"Stephanie this is your mother." Steph skipped that one and then turned to Ranger.

"My mother wants you to come over for dinner."

Ranger's eyes widened slightly but said nothing she knew she'd probably have to explain later.

"Hey cupcake, I heard you and Ranger finally tied the knot..." Steph was too busy telling Ranger about dinner and didn't hit the button fast enough.

Ranger raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain that to you later."

"Is that why I am going to dinner?"

"Yep."

Ranger nodded his head and listened to the fourth message play.

They waited through the silence, Stephanie watching Ranger's face for a reaction. "Stephanie, I saw you. Next time I see you, you won't just be falling asleep. I'll be seeing you soon."

"Hey beautiful." Steph stopped the messages there.

"That Lester?" Ranger asked her with a frown on his face.

"Yeah they have some old skips of mine that they want me to look through."

"Grab the tape and we'll bring it to Hector maybe he can get something from the voice print."

"You can do that?"

"I can do anything." Ranger told her, dragging her out of the door. He waited for her to lock up and then he led her towards the stairs.

"Ranger." She said with a whine. But it didn't help he still led her to the stairs where he made her use them to get downstairs. When she walked out into the parking lot she was not surprised that he had the front row spot. She was surprised that she hadn't seen him; she had to walk around his car to get to her apartment.

The drive to Haywood was filled with silence. Steph sat there hoping that Ella knew she was coming and Ranger sunk into his zone as soon as he turned the car on.

Ranger pulled up to the Haywood building and hit the button to raise the gate. The car slid smoothly underneath it and Ranger parked it in his spot near the stairs. Ranger grabbed Steph's bag from the back as he got out and met Steph around the back of the car.

Steph hit the elevator button and started to worry about which floor she was going to stay on. Would Ranger ask her to stay with him or would he automatically hit the fourth floor button? If he did that, she didn't know what she would do; she had thought when he asked that he was asking her stay with him on seven.

Ranger stood in the elevator waiting for Steph to get on, but she stood there mumbling to herself. "Babe, I smell smoke."

"Nothing." Steph stepped into the elevator beside him.

"Babe?"

Steph shook her head not looking at Ranger she knew that if she did his ESP would let him know what was wrong.

Ranger slid an arm around her and dragged her closer to him and placed a kiss to her temple and pressed the buttons for seven.

"Tell me about Morelli's message."

Steph kept her back to Ranger not wanting to see his reaction or more likely his blank face slam down when she told him.

"Well," Stephanie started stepping off of the elevator on to seven. "It seems that we eloped last night."

"Really?" Ranger asked opening the door for her.

"That's what I hear."

"Babe, I have a meeting right now, then a take down later. Some time in between there we'll have dinner and you can explain how that came to be."

"You're not mad?"

Ranger sent her a wolf grin on the way out the door. "Later, Mrs. Manoso."


	8. Chapter 8

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

**Chapter 8**

Steph stood frozen that sentence reverberated in her head. Damn she had to call Mary Lou to find out what started that rumor. She looked at the clock, five o'clock. Mary Lou was probably getting dinner ready.

Steph called her anyways. "Hello." A little voice answered the phone.

"Hi its Steph is your mom there?"

"Yeah Auntie Steph one second. MOM!" Steph yanked her head away from the phone too late.

"Hello?"

"Mare its Steph."

"Oh My God, tell me it's true."

"It's not. Do you know who told you?" Of course she did any burg woman would. All burg women knew who their source was, just in case they passed on wrong information they could easily point the finger at the person who told them.

"Janice Bludby told me and she couldn't believe that I didn't know. I figured you would have told me if you were. She said that Sarah Rattely told her the news that morning while they were in the checkout line of the grocery store. Sarah told Janice that Emily Heniwich had told her that she heard it from her husband that you guys had eloped."

"Her husband?"

"Yeah and get this Emily's husband Dan said he heard about when he was at Shorty's picking up their pizza."

"Shorty's?"

"Yeah."

"Did he say who he heard it from?"

"Said he didn't who they were. You know how guys are. He only passed on the info because Emily was all over him on how long it took him to get back home. So he told her the news that you were eloping to get her off his back. It didn't work though because then she was all over him for not getting more info on your elopement."

"Damn, so he doesn't know who told him."

"No that's not what I said. He was in Shorty's and he over heard someone talking about you and Ranger eloping."

"Well who would be talking about us eloping?"

"Dan says it was a couple of guys that were all in black."

Steph froze for the second time in an hour. "All in black?"

"Yeah sound like anyone you know?"

"What the hell?"

"Yeah that's the only reason I thought it might be true."

"I got to go Mary Lou I have to plan a mass murder."

"Let me know if you need a get away driver."

"I don't think that will be necessary but what I do need is Emily's number."

"Sure thing." And she rattled it off.

"Thanks Mary Lou, bye."

"Let me know how it goes bye Steph."

Sometimes it was refreshing talking to someone that actually said bye at the end of a phone call.

Steph decided to call Emily next to see if she was able to get any more details out of her husband.

"Hello?"

"Emily? Stephanie Plum."

"Plum?"

"Yes, Emily I didn't elope."

"Oh."

"I was wondering if Dan said how many guys were talking about me eloping."

"Hang on Stephanie he just walked in the door." Stephanie listened to the two of them talking before Dan came on the line.

"Stephanie?"

"Right here Dan."

"Look I didn't mean anything…"

"No it's all right Dan, I was just wondering if you knew how many guys there were?"

"Yeah it was only two and they were in line behind me. The only reason I noticed was because of the size of their order, it was huge and I had turned to see who could eat that amount of food."

"Do you remember what they looked like?"

Steph was sitting at the bar in Ranger's kitchen with a pen in one hand and a pad of paper on the counter hoping that Dan would give her some liable information. Her concentration was focused on getting Dan to tell her something that would let her know exactly which two had gossiped about her.

"My men did this?" Ranger asked reading what she had written down on the pad from her conversation with Mary Lou. Steph hadn't heard him come in and had to fight the squeak that threatened to come out. What she couldn't hide was how high she had jumped when he had spoken.

"Sorry Stephanie but I saw that they were carrying and I didn't look at their faces." Dan continued on in her ear.

"Okay thanks Dan, you remember anything let me know."

"Sure Stephanie."

Steph turned to face Ranger, "Maybe it is a male trait to not end a phone call properly."

"Babe?"

"He didn't even say good bye he just hung up, Mare said bye."

"What do you know?"

Steph told him everything that she was able to find out about their impromptu elopement while they ate the delicious meal that Ella had brought up for them.

"There is no reason why any of my men would be spreading lies."

"He said that they were dressed all in black, I guess they could be someone else."

"Babe."

"I know that is what I thought slim to none chance of that."

"I have the take down tonight, Babe." Ranger told her as they were cleaning up their dishes. "I shouldn't be home too late, but you don't have to wait up." Ranger leaned over and kissed her forehead and left.

Steph was left to stack the dishes on the tray for Ella and then went to go use the Bulgari in the shower. Steph spent little time in the shower due to the fact that Ranger didn't have a shower massager.

Steph set her bag on the bed and pulled out her pajamas then she looked over at Ranger's closet. He wouldn't miss one of his shirts. She grabbed one of his shirts to sleep in instead and crawled under the covers that smelt of Ranger.

It felt like she had just closed her eyes when she felt the bed dip.

"Ranger?"

"Go back to sleep Babe."

"Time?"

"After midnight, go to sleep."

Ranger sat on the bed taking his boots off and watched Stephanie sleep for a second before he got up to take a shower.

When he got into the bed Steph automatically draped her self over him like she had done when they were in New York. And like when they were in New York he pulled her closer to him.


	9. Chapter 9

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

A/N: Remember guys if my grammar ad spelling is off let me know

**Chapter 9**

It was almost time for the night shift to get off work when the alarms on one of their accounts went off.

Vince and Junior were watching the monitors, Junior jumped to attention from where he had been dozing in his chair. Junior called in the nearest team to go look over the account and to see what had happened. Vince grabbed the phone and called up to Ranger and was surprised when he didn't answer.

"He didn't answer." Vince looked at Junior.

"Hang on I'll have one of the guys run up." Junior stuck his head out of the control room to where the guys were getting their stuff ready to check out the account.

"Hey Lester."

"Yeah?"

"Ranger didn't answer his phone. Want to run up there and tell him?"

"Can do."

Lester used the stairs to get up to seventh floor, he unlocked the boss's door and went in.

"Ranger?" When he didn't get a response he quietly made his way towards the closed bedroom door. He slowly opened the door pulling the gun out of his belt, when he heard noises coming from the room.

At first he didn't know what was going on, he thought Ranger was in trouble until he recognized the curly hair. Lester shut the door as quietly as he had opened it. Looks like Steph had spent the night.

Lester made it back out of the apartment without getting caught. When he got out on five he was surprised to see that everyone was still there.

"What happened?" he asked Junior.

"The daughter was sneaking out to see her boyfriend."

"You tell Ranger yet?"

"No not yet."

"Don't bother I'll send Bobby up to tell him."

"All right." Junior agreed not knowing why he couldn't just call up.

"Hey Bobby."

"Yeah man."

"Can you run up and tell Ranger it was a false alarm."

"He still not answering his phone?"

Lester shook his head. "I just ran up there to tell him about the break in. Your turn."

"Fine." Bobby finished getting his gear off and went over and hit the button for the elevator.

Lester waited for the doors to close to burst out laughing. "Man this is going to be good."

"What's up?" Junior asked.

Lester just shook his head and went to catch up on paper work.

Bobby knocked on Ranger's door but he didn't get a response, so he slowly opened the door and called out for him.

"Ranger?"

Nothing.

Bobby walked further into the apartment looking around for Ranger. Then he heard the shower running. Bobby thought about waiting but he figured the boss would want to know right away that it was a false alarm.

Bobby knocked on the door hesitantly but didn't get an answer, so he opened the door to shout to him.

"See wasn't that better than running?" Bobby heard a husky female voice ask him. Bobby felt like he was struck dumb and he couldn't move. He couldn't remember a time when Ranger ever had a woman up here.

"Babe."

Babe? Ranger was in the shower with Stephanie. Bobby's thought process all of a sudden sped up letting him know that he had to get out of there now. He had taken a step backwards when the shower door was opened.

Ranger opened the door to get towels for him and Steph. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be getting any work done today, not with the memories of waking up next to Steph still his head.

When Steph had reached for him that morning he was ready for her to suddenly remember whom she was with and back away, but quite the opposite had happened. This time he wasn't going to be sending her back to Morelli, this time she was his for keeps. Ranger wasn't quite sure how they had gotten from the bed into the shower, but he did remember a lot of groping and pawing. Then the groping and pawing turned into a lot more once they got into the shower, in fact he wasn't sure that they were any cleaner now then they had been before the shower.

Ranger reached for a towel when movement caught his attention. There in front of him Bobby was standing with his mouth agape staring past him. Ranger snagged a towel then turned to wrap it around an equally stunned Stephanie.

"Brown."

"Sorry sir but there was a breach in an account. You didn't answer your phone. I was coming to give you an update."

"What?" Ranger asked blocking Bobby's view of Steph.

"That it was just the daughter sneaking out to meet her boyfriend."

"Fine, you've reported now get out."

"Yes, sir." And Bobby ran out of there.

"What the hell was that about?" Stephanie asked him.

Ranger shook his head and pulled a towel off of the rack to wrap around himself. "I have to go check out the account anyways, since the alarm went off but I don't have to rush over there. First we'll go down and have you check out the list of names to see if you recognize any of them."

Steph went through her whole hair and make up thing before going out and joining Ranger for breakfast. Ranger had taken half of the time she had and looked twice as good. There was no way she was ever going to get bored of staring at him.

"Babe?"

Steph blinked and refocused her eyes on him. "Yeah?"

"You going to eat?"

Steph rolled her eyes at him and sat down to her plate of French toast and proceeded to wolf it down.


	10. Chapter 10

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

A/N: Remember guys if my grammar and/or spelling is off let me know

**Chapter 10**

When Steph and Ranger stepped off of the elevator later that morning, Ranger guided her to the conference room so that his team could give him an update.

"The false alarm at the account this morning was due to the owner's teenage daughter trying to sneak out of the house. The team was assembled and ready to go within a ten minute time period. When you didn't answer your phone Lester was sent to give you the message while the rest of the team headed towards the cars. However before we could leave we got word from the owner and from the team that was in the area that the house was clear. Bobby went up to inform you of the change in plan and all other accounts were normal throughout the night." Junior was the first to fill Ranger in.

Ranger had sent Lester a nasty look when his name came up but no one said anything.

"Hector still hasn't come up with anything on the answering machine tape, but the tape was pretty old. You might want to think of getting a new one Bomber; it's easier to get stuff off of a tape that hasn't been used as much." Slick told her.

"Last night Slick and I were able to get information from the bartender that he and one of the patrons have a deal. When the guy gives him the go ahead he slips a little bit of white powder into a lady's drink. He didn't know what the powder was, or who the guy was, all he did know was that he got a grand every time he did so." Manny told them. "Seems like the guy is a regular."

"We are getting the tapes from the owner of the bar and they should be sent to us by tonight." Tank started. "I talked to him last night and he told me that this wasn't the first time that this has happened. He was so appreciated of finding out which of his employees to fire that he overnighted the tapes last night. The owner said that tapes cover the entire floor and that we should have no problem discovering who talked to the bartender beforehand. It will be a problem picking out which of the guys talking to the bartender is our guy."

"All of Steph's past skips are accounted for during the time you were in New York. Since we didn't find anything Brett had the file sent off to Hector to see if anything we missed with the searches. Still no word back from him. We'll let him know that we are looking for someone that goes there regularly." Woody spoke up next.

"We sorted out the ones that have a prescription for Halcion." Bobby told Steph. "It seems that only five of your skips had a script for it. We weren't able to go through and see who had a relative or a friend that they could get it from, though. So one of these may not be our guy." Bobby slid a sheet of paper across the table to her.

On it were five typed names with doctor's names and refill numbers next to them. Steph looked down the sheet. "Well it's not her," Steph said pointing to a name on the paper. "She was picked up for public nudity. She was trying to do a strip tease for her husband for their anniversary, only she was in front of a window when she did and the old lady across the street called the cops on her."

Steph continued down the list. "And it's not her," Steph pointed to the other female name on her list. "She was walking her dog in the park and when the dog dumped she found out that she had forgotten her plastic bag in the car. This weird person in the park thought she was just leaving it and called the cops on her. You'd think they would have arrested the weirdo that called that one in, who the hell watches someone to make sure they pick up their dog's poop?" Stephanie asked the room at large.

The guys stared at her for a second trying to figure out if she was really asking them that question and had wanted an answer.

Steph just plowed on down the list not noticing the guys' silence.

"The rest on the list I can't remember who they are." Steph sighed.

"Here's a copy of the bond's files Bomber." Brett told her sliding a manila folder across the table at her. Steph quickly flipped through the folder.

"I don't remember these guys, Ranger. How far back did you go?"

"To the beginning." He told her and then to the room in general. "If that's all, I want updates every hour. Even if that is to say you don't have one. Dismissed." The guys cleared the room to go do whatever assignments they were assigned to do.

When it was only Steph and Ranger left in the room, Ranger reached down to grab her hand and pulled her up out of her chair.

"Come on Babe." Ranger told her as he led her from the room, down the hall and into the elevator that brought them up to the fifth floor. Ranger nodded to the guys who were manning the monitors and Steph gave them her finger wave, in which the guys grinned back at her. Ranger opened up the door to his office and dragged her inside, closing the door by pushing Steph up against it.

Ranger held Steph up against the door with his lips inches away form hers. "Still no word on who was at Shorty's."

Steph froze confused by his statement. It wasn't exactly what you whisper to someone that you had pinned to a door. "What?"

"Which of my men were talking about our elopement?" Ranger clarified for her.

"Oh. That." Steph nodded her head. "Maybe it wasn't one of yours?" Steph told him again shrugging her shoulders.

Ranger raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay so that seems unlikely, but it's a possibility." Steph defended herself.

"Babe."

"Okay very unlikely." Steph conceded.

Ranger smiled at her. "Don't worry I'm working on it, I'll have a couple of guys get on it. Now where were we?" He asked spinning Steph around off of the door so that her back was towards his desk. He walked her backwards until the backs of her legs were against the desk. Ranger then crowded close to her so that she had to lean back to look at his face. As she was leaning back Ranger kissed her.

When Ranger kissed her Steph scooted back a little more on the desk so that she was sitting on it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lean over her as he kissed her. Ranger leaned her back far enough that her back was on the top of his desk and she was lying across it. Steph wound her legs around his hips pulling him closer to her.

Ranger slid his arms underneath Stephanie's back so that he could hug her closer to him as he deepened the kiss.

Before they could take it any further Tank opened the door without knocking. "Hey Rangeman?" Before Tank could say more he was struck dumb at the sight of his best friend entwined with Stephanie on his desk.

Ranger let out a sigh and stood back up pulling Stephanie with him. He tucked a curl behind Steph's ear and then turned around to face Tank. "Yeah?" Ranger asked him putting as much menace as he could into his glare.

Tank smirked at his friend; "We're doing surveillance on all three of the guys tonight. You and Steph are together on the second shift at McGuire's."

Ranger gave a slight nod and Tank was gone closing the door behind him.

"Oh my God." Steph exclaimed from her seat on his desk and buried her head into her palms.

"Relax Babe."

"Tank caught us!"

"The guys probably already knew."

"WHAT?!" Steph exclaimed surprised that Ranger would share that much personal information with the guys.

Ranger winced, "The whole building is monitored they probably already knew you spent the night."

Oh. "I think I am going to hide out in here for the rest of the day."

Before Ranger could respond there was a knock on his office door.

"Enter." He called out.

Vince stuck his head in through the door, not opening it all the way. "The first shifts are in place at the suspects' houses. Hector called he said that Marseilles isn't our guy, looks like he had a meeting with his parole officer the day before. There would have been no time for him to get to New York and drug Stephanie."

"Who's on that team? Get them off of the house and back here."

"Slick and Manny took that one."

"Good. Tell them to see me when they get in."

Vince nodded back and left the office closing the door behind him.

"I'll have Slick and Manny try to find out who was at Shorty's since we know it couldn't be them since they were with us."

Steph nodded and picked up her bag, which was shoved in the corner of the office. She had dropped it when Ranger had her pinned to the door, and then the door must have pushed it back when Tank opened it.

"I'm going to go see if there are any files for me."

"Be careful."

Steph nodded back at him and walked out of the office. She didn't even make it to the elevator before she realized that she didn't have a car. Ranger had driven her here. Steph used the flat of her hand to hit her forehead. She let out a sigh and turned around to head back towards Ranger's office.

When she turned around she saw Ranger lounging in the doorway grinning at her. "Forget something Babe?" He asked and then threw a set of keys at her.

Steph grumbled in the elevator on the way down to the garage. When she stepped out in to the garage she looked down at the keys to see if they would give her some hint as to what car they went with. Nothing.

So she hit the unlock button and listened to the car unlock and then beeped it closed. She had to do it a couple times before she was sure that she was standing in front of the right car. She knew the guys were probably watching her and laughing at her antics but what the hell it worked.

A/N: Fixed a couple of mistakes that were pointed out.


	11. Chapter 11

Standard Disclaimer Applies, they're not mine they're hers.

A/N: Remember guys if my grammar and spelling is off let me know, since some you actually read these I have already been sent some mistakes and have already fixed them. Thanks to those that helped.

And I am sooo sorry for taking so long with this chapter getting posted I'll try to work out a longer one soon to make up for it

**Chapter 11**

When Steph got to the Bond's office, Lula was immediately all over her.

"Geez girl you come in late and you don't bring no donuts." Lula was sitting on the worn couch flipping through an old copy of Cosmo.

Connie looked up from the nail that she was currently painting. "Hey Steph there are a couple new skips for you." Connie nodded her head to two files that were on the corner of her desk. Steph grabbed them and sat down next to Lula so that she could flip through the files. The first one was Mooner, so that was no problem she just had to watch a marathon of TV before she was able to bring him in.

The second file was someone that she had never had before, Jerry Flacon. It was listed that he lived in the Burg so he probably knew who she was or at least have heard of her.

"I'm going to go get Mooner now, Lula you coming?"

"No way girlfriend, I had me enough of that Star Trek shit." Lula hadn't even glanced up as she talked to Steph; she just continued to read her magazine.

Steph left and made her way towards Mooner's house.

She pulled up in front of his house prepared to wait the three hours or so that it would take to drag Mooner away from the TV. She ended up having to sit through four episodes of Bewitched before Mooner got up and was ready to leave.

Steph wished all of skips were that easy, as she walked out of the police station after dropping Mooner off. Steph got into her car and started it up listening to the engine rumble; before she pulled away she sent a quick prayer to God that she wouldn't blow it.

Steph sent another quick prayer to God thanking him when she arrived at Rangeman without any trouble. Steph grabbed her other file off of the passenger seat and got into the elevator to take her to the seventh floor.

Steph was unlocking the door when the door was flung open and Ranger was standing there.

"Hey, Babe." He smiled at her.

"Ranger." Steph answered him. She kicked her shoes off at the door and dropped her purse alongside them. She tossed her file for Flacon on the table by the door and looked at Ranger again.

He was still smiling.

"What's wrong?" she asked nervously, Ranger's grin was always quick and it never lingered. Steph looked away and then back at him, it was still there.

"Slick and Manny called in, they said they were able to get some salient information on the guys that were at Shorty's. They are down stairs now." Ranger explained to her.

She slid her shoes back on leaving her purse on the floor not needing to go downstairs. Steph smiled at him and turned around to open the door, but Ranger had already gotten it open for her. She went over and pressed the button to call the elevator. They were finally going to find out who the elopement news spreaders were. Steph grinned evilly thinking of the payback she would inflict on them, for having her mother all over about her getting married again.

"Looking kind of crazy Babe." Ranger told her as they walked off of the elevator on to the fifth floor.

"I was just thinking of what I was going to do to the elopement news spreaders." Steph told him with a smile on her face.

Ranger gave her a weird look. "Elopement news spreaders?"

"Well we have to call them something." Steph gave him a duh face, rolling her eyes.

Manny was already in Ranger's office when they walked in.

"Sir, Steph." Manny addressed them both with a nod. "We weren't able to get much. We were able to talk to Shorty, himself, and it seems that whoever was there that night were regulars. Shorty said that he recognized them from other times that they have come in. However, he didn't know their names. But he promised to contact us as soon as they came in again."

Steph slumped down on the couch her hand landing in her hands. Ranger nodded at Manny letting him know that he was to leave.

"Babe, don't worry."

"Ranger my mother invited you to dinner and will threaten to revoke my cake privileges if we don't make it, I have a stalker, and the Burg thinks we eloped. It's been a crazy couple of days." Steph said, looking at Ranger.

Ranger flashed her, his wolf grin, "You want me to brighten your day?"

Steph laughed at him and shook her head.

"We have surveillance duty later at McGuire's."

Steph gave him a weird look, thinking about the next couple of hours she would spend bored out of her mind with a numb ass. "Yeah, yeah, I remember, we going to have dinner first?"

"Sure Babe. I'll ring up Ella, and then we can eat." Ranger told her.

Steph nodded at him and went up to seven so she could shower off the smoky smell that always lingered at Mooner's house. As she showered and dressed she tried not to think about her stalker.

"Babe dinner's ready." Ranger called to her from the kitchen.

Steph finished pulling her hair up and went out to see what Ella had made them.

Steph sighed and couldn't believe that Ranger's roots and twigs weren't so bad when Ella made them. She had already finished her dinner when Ranger told her how healthy her food had been.

Ranger was still ribbing her about it in the elevator on the way down to the garage. "Does this mean no more donuts?" At Steph's exasperated look he grinned. "Come on Babe." Ranger said grabbing her hand pulling her over to his truck.

Ranger drove to McGuire's house in silence, and parked across the street three houses down. By the time their shift was almost over, there still had been no movement any where near the house. Steph was sitting in her seat fidgeting tying to get some feeling back in her butt.

"I was serious before." Ranger spoke suddenly.

Steph looked at him confused. "I'm not giving up donuts."

Ranger laughed, "No about brightening your day. You brighten mine when you're around the least I could do is return the favor."

"Somehow I don't think we would go about that in the same way."

Ranger gave her the wolf grin again, and pulled her across the seat and into his lap. Steph was surprised; usually Ranger never does anything on a stakeout that would make him miss something. He is always in his zone and never ever loses his concentration, which at times annoyed the hell out of Steph.

Though surprised, Steph shifted so she was straddling Ranger, she buried her hands in his hair and pulled him close to kiss him. Ranger responded to her by trying to get his hands in between them, when he finally did they quickly found the hem of her shirt. His fingers slid underneath her shirt and started on an upward exploration. Steph's head was flung back waiting in anticipation of what was going to happen.

It never did.

A knock on the window made them jump apart. Ranger fumbled to get his hands out from under Steph's shirt to get to his gun. But before he could get his gun out he saw that it was Tank. Steph slid back over to her seat, her face beet red, as Ranger rolled down his window to talk to Tank.

"With all of this steam on the windows I'm not surprised that you didn't see us pull up." Ranger looked up into the rearview mirror, and sure enough there was one of the Rangeman SUVs.

"We flashed the lights a couple of times, but we didn't want to draw too much attention to ourselves."

Ranger shook his head and put the truck into drive. Neither of them said anything until they reached Rangeman.

"Ranger?"

Ranger turned and looked at her and raised a single eyebrow in question. He said nothing waiting for her to go a rampage about being caught once again by Tank. Her rebuff never came, instead she surprised him by not mentioning it.

"My mom still expects us for dinner tomorrow."

"Don't worry Babe we'll be there."


	12. Chapter 12

Standard Disclaimer Applies, There are some Merry Men that we will never return

A/N: A big thanks to Isabellsah Cullen for letting me know about the few errors I had made in the last chapter.

**Chapter 12**

Ranger stepped off of the elevator on five and made his way to the control room to make sure that nothing had happened while he and Steph had been watching McGuire's house. He still couldn't believe that he had lost it like that while working.

Usually he was able to compartmentalize his feelings and concentrate on work. Tonight it seemed that every move Steph made distracted him and he couldn't keep his mind on watching the house. Steph had just gone up to seven to wait for him; he hoped that there was nothing huge that needed his personal involvement.

"Anything?" Ranger asked Junior who was on night shift this week.

Without looking away from the monitors Junior answered him. "Yeah, Hector has the surveillance tape from the bar. He's still in his office I think he is trying to clear them up."

Ranger left to go see what Hector had. Ranger walked through the maze of cubicles to the back corner where Hector's desk was. There were several monitors hooked together and different images of the bar were playing in slow motion.

"Hector."

I don't know Spanish so I am just writing it in English so those of you that also don't know Spanish, you're welcome. I hate using translators they never give you same translations

"I've got him." Hector said pointing to one of the monitors. "He doesn't look like either guy that we are currently watching."

"I'll go get Stephanie maybe she'll recognize him from somewhere." Ranger told him got into the elevator. He walked into the apartment and was surprised to find it dark. He peeked into the bedroom and found Steph lying on the bed in one of his shirts. Ranger sat down next to her and rubbed her back.

"Babe?"

"Ummm..." Steph reached out for him, but he kept his arm out of reach. "Ranger?"

"Think you can come downstairs and look at the guy that spiked your drink or do you want to wait till morning?"

"Urgh. I'm coming." Steph sat up and patted her head trying to make sure that it hadn't gone all over the place in the few minutes that she was asleep. When she finally gave up and tossed it into a ponytail, Ranger was standing behind her with the pair of jeans that she had taken off.

"Put these on." Steph pulled them and followed him down to the fifth floor.

"Hola Stephanie." Hector greeted her. He held up a keypad that looked unrepairable.

Steph gave him a puzzled look, "I don't understand."

"Babe." Ranger said with a smile and pointed to the hole that was in the keypad. Steph blushed as she recognized the bullet hole that she had put in it.

"But why do you still have it?" she asked Hector.

"Hector likes to think he can fix everything, Babe. He is still trying to get it to work again." Ranger explained to her.

Hector pointed at the keypad and rattled off something in Spanish and laughed.

"He says you may have beaten him." Ranger translated.

Stephanie grinned trying not to feel like a fool for having lost her temper with the keypad. "You said you found the guy from the bar." She said pointing to the frozen screens behind Hector.

"Si." Hector nodded and pointed to a print out that was in the printer.

Steph reached over and pulled it out. She looked at the broad nose, and narrow eyes and knew that she had seen the man before.

"I know him, but I don't know where from." Steph said apologetically.

Ranger handed the photo back to Hector with instructions. "Hector will pass this out to the guys, they'll find him."

Ranger steered Steph around back to towards the elevators, stopping to ask Junior to call the guys in as they neither one looked like the unknown man from the bar. Junior nodded and together they went up to seven.

Steph was already kicking her jeans off as she walked towards the bedroom. Ranger stood by the door watching, amazed that she was able to get them off without falling over. She can't run after a ninety year old skip without falling but could hop around pulling her jeans off was not a problem.

After kicking his boots off, Ranger tossed his keys in the dish on the side table. When he did he saw the file folder from the bond's office that Steph had set there earlier. Out of curiosity and to make sure that Vinnie hadn't given her anybody that she couldn't handle Ranger flipped it open.

Ranger sucked in a breath when he saw the skip that she had, Jerry Flacon. Ranger couldn't believe it, but it was true, there was the same broad nose and squinty eyes that the patron from the bar had had.

Ranger pulled out his phone and called down to Hector, "Got a name. Jerry Flacon. F. l. a. c. o. n." Ranger spelled it out for him. "I want to know everything about him." Ranger sent a glance towards the bedroom door. "Leave it on my desk and I'll go over it in the morning."

Ranger walked in to the bedroom with the file folder and set it down on the bedside table. Ranger shucked his clothes and climbed into bed next to Stephanie. He'd wait to tell her in the morning.

Steph felt Ranger moving next to her, she turned over ready to wrap herself around him.

"Babe, are you going to make me miss my run again?"

"Mmmm" Steph answered her mouth pressed to his throat. Steph was starting on a downward path that answered his question for him. The beeping of the alarm clock next to the bed made him think about going for his run, but Steph's hands were running all over him.

Ranger swung his hand up to shut the alarm button and he wasn't watching what he was doing. The file he had placed there last night fell to the floor as he shut the alarm off.

"What's that?" Steph asked sitting up and staring at the papers that had fallen onto the floor. Ranger groaned knowing that once he told her that he would end up missing his run anyways.

"That's the skip that Connie gave you yesterday."

"What's it doing in here?"

"I looked through it last night and recognized the skip from the surveillance video from the bar."

Steph sat there dumbfounded. "That's the guy? But I just got him."

"Only you Babe." Ranger said getting out of bed and heading towards the bathroom to start his day.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steph said getting up and following him into the bathroom.

"You're the only one I know that gets into these weird ass situations. I don't know what I used to do for fun before I met you." He grinned at her.

"I believe it was getting shot at and throwing guys out of third story windows."

"I didn't know what I was missing then." Ranger told her giving her a shove towards the shower.


	13. Chapter 13

Standard Disclaimer Applies, Plum Spooky out this January, at least the cover looks cool.

A/N: Remember guys if my grammar and spelling is off let me know. A big thanks to minicpst who found sme errors in this I have already fixed them.

After they had breakfast Ranger called the guys letting them know that was going to be a meeting in twenty about Steph's stalker.

Ranger was sitting at desk running Flacon through the searches before the meeting. Steph was slouched on the couch bemoaning herself because she couldn't remember what her current skip looked like.

"I could have walked right past him and I would never have known."

"Babe, you only had the file a day."

"I bet you know exactly what all of your current skips look like."

"Of course not, Babe, I delegate."

"Ranger…" Before Steph could make her point, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Ranger called out.

Tank stuck his head in, "Everyone is here."

Ranger nodded and Tank backed out of the office. "Come on Babe." Ranger said standing up and pulling the search results out of the printer. Steph heaved herself up and trudged towards the door.

Ranger wrapped an arm around her waist and led her to the stairs, so they could go down a floor. Stephanie sighed at having to use the stairs but didn't say anything.

They walked into the conference room and took their seats. Ranger looked around the room and started.

"We have a name on the drugger from New York. Jerry Flacon is a known abuser and has been in several times for intent to distribute. Steph received Flacon as a skip the day we returned from New York. Address and other information are in here." Ranger indicated the pile of papers. He pushed the pile towards the center of the table and everyone grabbed one. "His house is in a suburban area, it's in the center of the block and should be easy to block off any escape route he may have."

Ranger looked down at his watch, "If there are no questions we'll pay Flacon a visit in two hours."

Lester cleared his throat.

"What Santos?"

"Flacon drugged her before he skipped?"

"His bond range would have automatically made him one of Steph's skips. Most likely he never had plans to attend court and thought to get Steph out of the way before she came looking for him. Anything else?"

Everybody stayed silent.

"Two hours." Ranger told them again

Back on seven, Ranger got his vest out and took his weapons out of his safe. Steph sat on one of the kitchen stools watching him check everything over twice, including a small earpiece and mic that he talked into and must have gotten an answer since he nodded.

Ranger looked up after making sure that he was on the same frequency as the control room. "You staying here?"

"What?"

"If you're going to come with you need a vest and a gun."

"My gun?" Steph asked with a weak smile.

Ranger let out a sigh and picked up one of the guns that he had checked over. "Here use this one."

Steph took and placed it on the counter next to her. Not surprised that it was similar to her own gun that she had left at home in the cookie jar.

Ranger pulled on his vest and strapped a gun to his ankle, slid a knife into his boot, tucked another gun in a holster that was at his side. Ranger grabbed Steph's hand and led her out of the apartment and into the elevator. "We'll get you a vest."

Ranger had no trouble finding her a vest that fit. There was a pile of them on the conference room table he tried a couple of them on her before he found one that fit the best. Steph looked around the guys and concluded that the only other person that the vest would fit was Hector.

The guys finished with their own equipment stood around the room looking at Ranger. "Woody, you and Brett take the south end of the street, Slick and Manny the north. Lester, Bobby you guys have the back, Tank you're with me."

"What about me?" Stephanie asked, chagrined that he didn't mention her.

Ranger slung an arm around her shoulders, "You're with me, of course."

Ranger kept his arm around her as the rode the elevator down to the garage; they got into one of the SUVs with Tank. The other guys splitting themselves up among two more SUVs followed them out of the garage and to Flacon's house.

Ranger pulled up in front of the house and waited until the other teams told him that they were all in place.

Ranger took lead as they made their way up the sidewalk to the front door. Stephanie followed close behind him while Tank had both of their backs. Ranger knocked on the door hard enough that it shook its frame.

They waited a second but no one came and opened the door. Ranger pounded on the door again with side of his fist. "Bond Enforcement." He called out. Still nothing.

"Santos, you guys have anything?" Ranger spoke into his mic.

"Movement in the upstairs window."

Ranger turned so that he could see Tank in the corner of his vision. Tank gave a little nod indicating that he was ready. Ranger backed up a step careful not to step on Stephanie, and then he put his right boot to the door. The kick landed right underneath the door knob, the frame splintered and the door burst open.

"Cool." Steph whispered from behind him.

Ranger gave a small smile that she couldn't see and led the way into the house.

Ranger had his gun in front of him as he went towards the backroom. He walked into a room that had been set up as an office. There were books lying around, one that looked like a medical book was lying open to a page describing the effects of Halcion. At least they knew they had the right man. Ranger quickly searched the room and then made his way into the room across the hall, passing a window where he could see Lester standing with his gun at the ready trained on the door.

Ranger walked into a bathroom which he easily search and found no one. He did find a script for Halcion but it was filled out to a female, probably a girlfriend. "Clear." He called out letting Tank know that he hadn't found any one.

As Ranger backed up into the front hallway again he heard Tank call out "Clear." No one was in the living room either.

Steph came back to the hall from the kitchen. "No one in the kitchen either. Looks like someone was cooking though."

Ranger gritted his teeth, but held his tongue about her going back there alone. Lester and Bobby were right there at the back door nothing would have happened to her. At least that's what he told himself in an effort not to worry about 'could have beens.'

Ranger breathed out slowly and then nodded towards the stairs and went up them, leaving Steph and Tank to follow him.

Ranger slowly pushed open the first door to the right of the landing. He looked through the closets surprised to find not only Flacon's clothes hanging up in them but women's clothes as well.

"Clear." Ranger heard Tank call out from the room across the hall.

"Clear, but we might have a problem." Ranger said walking out to meet Tank on the landing.

"He might have a hostage there are women's clothes in the closet and then there was a script for Halcion made out to a female."

"Oh shit." Ranger turned towards the room in which Stephanie's expletive came from. The door was opened half way and he could see Steph through the open door.

"Please come in Mr. Manoso." A male voice called out from inside the room.

Ranger pushed the door open the rest of the way with the toe of his boot. He kept his gun in front of him looking for a target. As the door hit the wall, Ranger saw Flacon standing on the far side of the room near the window.

Flacon had his back to the wall, with a slim blonde standing in front of him. He had a gun in his hand that was pressing right up to the blonde's temple.

"I'd appreciate it if you called off your back up, otherwise things could get messy in here." He said motioning with his gun at the blonde.

Ranger put his gun up so that it was no longer aimed at Flacon, Flacon's eyes twitched over Ranger's right shoulder. "Tank." Ranger said knowing that Tank would put his up as well.

Flacon opened his mouth to say something, probably trying to think of a way to get passed all of them my men that were surrounding his house.

However he never got the chance.

Suddenly there was a shrill whistle going off and then a loud popping noise. Flacon's eyes went wide.

"Shit." He said under his breath.

"Boss," Tank started hesitantly. "We have smoke."

Knowing Tank would keep a watch on Flacon, Ranger tilted his head so he could see into the hallway. Smoke was pouring up the stairs.

"I bet that was whatever was left on the stove." Steph commented.

Tank gawked at her. "You didn't turn off the flame?"

"No, it didn't look done." She told him giving him a look that screamed duh.

"Ranger." Lester said through the mic. "We can't get in through the back door, whatever was in the pan splattered and hit the curtains that whole kitchen's gone up. Better get out of there."

"Working on it." He reported back.

Flacon walked the blonde towards them, the gun still pressed to the side of her head. "In the room across the hall now, all three of you, now!"

Tank backed out of the room his gun hanging at his side, waiting for a moment Jerry moved the gun an inch away from the blonde. Ranger slowly followed Tank out of the room and into the one across the hall. He grabbed Steph's arm pulling her behind him so that she would be out of range if he decided to fire at them.

Flacon backs up towards the stairs and he looked down to see where the stair was so he wouldn't trip down them. Ranger made his move; he dived towards them pushing the blonde out of the way and managed not to tumble down the stairs with Flacon.

Ranger wrestled Flacon's gun away from him. Tank moved up next to the two of them taking one of Falcon's arms securely in his hand. Ranger mimicked the move on the other side. The three of them moved down the stairs and out the front door quickly.

Ranger helped Tank get Flacon into the back of one of the SUVs.

Ranger turned around and looked around for Steph and the blonde woman. Neither one was around. He looked back at the house that was slowly going up in flames. Of course Stephanie would still be inside.


	14. Chapter 14

Standard Disclaimer Applies, yes we know, nobody wants to return Ranger.

A/N: Only one more chapter to go so if you have any questions you need answered about the story would be the time, so I can incorporate the answers into the last chapter if they aren't already there.

**Chapter 14**

Steph watched the guys maneuver Flacon out of the house. She went over to help the blonde woman up off of the ground from where she stumbled to after Ranger pushed her out of harms way.

The blonde cringed away from Stephanie's outreached hand. "It's okay you're safe now." Stephanie tried to calm her down enough to get her out of the house.

"Come on we have to get out of here." Steph could see that the smoke was getting blacker, that couldn't be good.

"He w..w..was going t..t..to kill m..m..me." The blonde stuttered out.

"I know but you're safe now, Ranger is going to make sure he goes to jail for a very long time." Steph said trying to talk slowly so she wouldn't scare the woman any more. Steph tried to keep her voice low but she was getting nervous about the heat that was coming from downstairs. They didn't have a lot of time before they wouldn't be able to get out of the house.

"Come on." Steph tried again, offering her hand. The blonde looked at her hand and took and it this time. Steph help pull her to her feet and tugged her over to the stairs. Steph could see the orange glow of the flames, she closed her eyes and said a quick prayer that they would be able to get out.

Steph tugged the reluctant blonde down the stairs. She squinted through the smoke barely making out the outline of the doorway. She was pretty sure that they were almost to the door when a crack sounded above them. The blonde beside her froze to look up.

Steph tried to tug her forward but it was too late the ceiling fell down in front of them effectively blocking their escape. The blonde let out a little cry and Steph sent a glare her way.

oOo

Ranger heard the approaching sirens but didn't give them a second thought, all he could think about was Stephanie still inside a burning house.

He heard one of his guys swear behind him and then a thudding of boots. He prepared himself for them to yank him back away from the burning house, but it never came. He sent a quick look over his shoulder to see Tank running with him.

He was coming to help, relief rushed through him, thankful that Tank was going to be able to help him with whatever was keeping Stephanie locked inside the burning inferno.

Ranger stepped through the doorway and was immediately stopped; the ceiling lay in his path. He looked through the smoke and thought he saw a way around it to the right. Ranger worked his way around the fallen plaster and a couple wooden beams. Who knew how long they had before the upstairs was suddenly on top of them?

Ranger was surprised when he bumped into someone on the other side of the fallen ceiling. He looked beyond her and could make out that Stephanie was also there. And she looked pissed.

Then Ranger heard it. The blonde woman in front of him was sobbing that they were going to die. Tank pushed past him and slung Stephanie over his shoulder and quickly made his way back around the plaster. But not before throwing a grin in Ranger's direction.

Great. Now he had got stuck carrying the clinging blonde who was wailing about how death by fire was awful and she couldn't have an open casket at her funeral.

Ranger quickly lifted the frightened woman into his arms and made his way back out of the house. The firefighters had arrived by then and were already fighting the fire. Tank already had Stephanie sitting in the back of one of the ambulances.

Ranger brought the blonde woman over to another ambulance and dropped her off so she was now their problem.

Ranger jogged over to where Steph was sitting and was surprised to see that Morelli was there as well.

"Geez Steph, you see that the house is on fire and what? You have to stay inside?" Morelli joked with her.

"Carl told me if I helped him win his bet he would give me half his winnings." Steph told him.

From behind Morelli calls of "Constanza" went up.

Stephanie burst out laughing, "Serves him right for always rubbing his bets in my face." Steph nodded, still laughing as Morelli turned away to help the other officers get accounts from the neighbors.

"Looks like this one is going to need stitches." The paramedic besides Stephanie said pointing to a small, but deep laceration on her arm.

"Oh." Stephanie frowned. "Couldn't you just put a band aid on it? Please?"

"Sorry but that one is too deep for a band aide and it is going to need a better cleaning than I can give it."

Steph glanced over at Tank and caught sight of Ranger. "Ranger." She smiled at me. "Could you go get my purse it has my insurance card in it."

Ranger nodded and walked back to the SUV they had taken to get here. He recalled their earlier conversation in the car on the way here.

"Bombshell, what are you bringing your purse for?" Tank asked her from the back seat.

"I remembered to put my gun in it." She smiled at him.

"I hope you weren't going to be bringing that in with you?"

"My gun?"

"No the purse, it not very SWAT to be going in and having one of the guys carrying around a purse."

"But I have everything in it."

"Babe."

"But..."

"Just bring your gun in with you; your purse might get in the way." Ranger had explained to her. Steph had huffed and slouched in her seat but in the end she had left it in the car. Ranger was sure Tank would have tackled her to the ground before letting her bring her purse with on the takedown.

Ranger pulled open the passenger door and reached in and grabbed her purse. He held it by the handles as he walked back to Steph.

"Wow. Rangeman I didn't know you were into matching accessories." Lester laughed.

Ranger sent him a glare and kept on walking trying not to think about what a fool he must look like for walking around carrying a purse.

He heard several of the officers' snickers as he walked past them but no one else said anything.

Then Tank saw.

Tank opened up his mouth to say something, but Ranger sent him a glare. Instead of closing his mouth Tank just went right on.

"Tank leave him alone, I could have sent you." Steph said before anything could escape from his mouth. Ranger could hear grumbles from behind him, from the guys wishing that he had been allowed to crack his joke.

Before Tank could protest that he wouldn't have fetched her purse, the paramedic loaded Steph in as another one started the ambulance up. Before the doors could close in his face Ranger hopped inside.

"Sir," The paramedic tried to stop him.

"He has to come with he has my insurance card." Steph stopped her.

The paramedic frowned at her but let Ranger ride with them.

Steph was quickly treated at the hospital and released almost as soon as she got there. She had been a patient there so many times they all knew how terrible a patient she was and quickly patched her up so she would no longer be their problem.

Ranger was pacing the waiting room waiting for Steph to finish signing her paperwork.

"Ahh Rangeman," Tank started.

Ranger turned around and was surprised when female arms wrapped themselves around his neck.


	15. Chapter 15

Standard Disclaimer Applies

A/N: Yes this is it, please let me know if I didn't address something you need something clarified.

**Chapter 15**

"My hero!" The blonde squealed keeping her arms wrapped tightly around Ranger. Ranger stood there stunned that the blonde had been able to get that close to him without him realizing. Looking over her shoulder he could see Steph giving him a funny look and Tank was laughing.

"Come on Bomber let's go get in the truck." Tank stated leading Steph towards the bank of elevators. Tank was going to leave him here, with this blonde nut.

"Oh I don't know how I could ever thank you." The blonde gushed, looking up at him from through her lashes, letting him know that she really did mean 'anything.' Ranger grabbed both of her wrists and pried them off of his neck and placed them at her sides.

Before Ranger could think of a nice brush off that wouldn't hurt her feelings too much his cell phone went off.

"Yo?" Ranger answered before the first ring was over relieved at the interruption.

"Mr. Manoso?" A deep voice boomed at him.

"Yes?" Ranger asked cautiously since he couldn't place the familiar voice.

"Ahh, this is Shorty. I told you I would call when your men arrived." He boomed at him. Well so much for secrecy, with his loud voice the whole restaurant probably heard him.

"We're on our way." Ranger let him know and hung up.

Ranger looked down at the blonde who was hung up on his every word. He nodded at her and made his way over to the elevator, as the doors were closing he let out the breath that he had unknowingly been holding. But his relief was short lived because right before the doors shut the little blonde had squeezed her way through the nonexistent opening.

"Hi." She smiled at him.

Ranger nodded at her again.

"You were like so brave running back into a burning building to save me." She said staring at him adoringly.

Ranger tried to explain but she just kept right on talking.

"I'm Jessica, by the way." She said fluttering her eye lashes at him.

Ranger nodded again, but Jessica kept staring at him. He was saved from trying to find something to say when the elevator doors opened. Ranger stalked off trying to out walk her, but as he reached out to open the door Jessica was right there again. He pushed open the door allowing her to go through first; she smiled at him and bounced through.

He shook his head and made his way over to the idling truck that was right outside the doors, much to the aggravation of the other patients. Ranger hopped into the passenger seat without turning around to look at Jessica.

"Geez Ranger." Steph complained form the back seat.

Ranger turned around to look at her smiling face. He lifted an eyebrow in question.

"That ditz was the reason I was stuck inside a burning building." Steph said laughingly.

"Umm, Rangeman?" Tank said watching the rearview mirror, but the smile was evident in his voice.

Ranger turned around in his seat to see who was crazy enough to try and follow him. He was stunned to see that the blonde was behind the wheel of the vehicle. When she saw that he was looking at her she smiled and waved.

Stephanie burst out laughing. "Hey hero, looks like someone has a terrible case of hero worship."

Ranger's mouth dropped open in shock and then turned into a grimace.

"That's Ranger always having to fight the ladies off of him." Tank chuckled from the driver's seat.

Ranger saw Steph's disapproving stare. "Babe." He said keeping her from letting lose another string of comments that Tank was sure to be replaying for the rest of the guys later.

Tank pulled in to Shorty's after trying to shake Jessica off of his tail. He had lost her for a second when going through the Burg cul-de-sac but she had somehow found them again before they got to Shorty's.

Ranger sat in the passenger seat a minute before getting out of the truck. "I can't even beat her up." Ranger said to himself.

"What?" Steph asked confused.

"If she was a guy I could have roughed him up so he would leave me alone, but I can't beat up a girl." Ranger clarified.

"I doubt you would have a man following you around." Steph told him leaning around the front seat.

"You'd be surprised Bomber." Tank told her before taking off to go inside Shorty's.

Ranger shook his head and then helped a laughing Stephanie out of the truck to follow Tank inside. Together they walk into the dim interior that is Shorty's. They saw Tank already in the back, his bulk blocking their view of who was sitting in the booth in with him.

As they approached them heard they them chattering away in Spanish. Steph's brow wrinkled as she tried to figure out what they were saying.

"Hola Hector." Ranger greeted him. "Junior." Ranger nodded at him, and slid into the seat besides Hector pulling Stephanie down besides him. Tank had slid in besides Junior just as the bell at the door announced a new customer.

Ranger looked up and groaned. His blonde little friend had decided to come in as well. Ranger ignored her and turned back to the conversation. Tank was talking to Junior.

"Yeah that little blonde girl has been following Ranger ever since he saved her." Tank was laughing with them. Steph sat confused by Ranger not understanding the Spanish conversation taking place around her.

"Actually we didn't come here to eat." Tank told them switching to English, so Steph could understand. They had finished laughing about Ranger's new 'friend' and Junior was listening intently to Tank, Hector picked at his pizza pulling the pepperonis off and eating them first. "We were told that a couple of our guys were here earlier in the week spreading rumors about the boss." Tank didn't expand on the rumors.

"No way man. It was just me and Hector here, we picked up food and went back to the office to eat. Never even said a word in English." Junior told them.

Hector poked Stephanie and pointed at the guys clearly wondering what they were talking about. Steph looked at the guys and guessed that Hector saw that Junior was agitated about something, from the clenched fists and tense shoulders. Steph elbowed Ranger so that he would translate for him. When he was done Ranger translated for her how Hector had responded.

"Hector doesn't speak English Babe, so the two of them came in talking in Spanish paid for their food and left. They were discussing when we would be back when a man turned around looked at them turned white and left them alone."

It took a minute to understand what he was saying. At first she thought they had the wrong guys. Then it clicked. Dan had must have heard something in Spanish and interpreted it as English and somehow got she was eloping with Ranger. Yeah right. It was more likely Dan made it up when Emily interrogated him for being late. He remembered hearing their names and just used that so Emily wouldn't be mad, which happened anyways. Men.

They didn't stay long after that. Ranger got up to leave his arm going around Steph as they walked towards the car. Tank was stayed declaring that it was about time he got a break after his hectic week. Ranger had let it go.

Ranger drove back to Rangeman going into his zone on the way there. Steph watched in the side mirrors to see if the blonde was following them but it didn't look like it.

"She's not there. That's why Tank stayed." Ranger told her when she had turned around to watch the cars that passed as they pulled into the garage.

"You're using a scare tactic to keep her away? Obviously since she wasn't scared of you in the first place she's dumb as a rock and Tank isn't going to be able to scare any sense into her." Steph chided him. "If I was Tank I would be using the time to pass along the story of your new admirer."

Ranger pulled Steph out of the SUV and led her to the elevator. "Tank knows I'll kick his ass."

"You better not." Steph said hitting him on his arm, which probably hurt her hand more than it hurt Ranger's arm. "I mean the story is too funny not to share."

Ranger shook his head as they stepped into the elevator. Before Ranger had a chance to press the seventh floor button on his fob, his phone rang.

"Yo."

"Boss we got a problem in the lobby."

"What is it?"

"She says her name is Jessica."

Ranger glanced down at Steph, "We'll be right there."

"She's here isn't she?" Stephanie asked him as he pressed the button for the lobby.

Ranger didn't say anything just stared straight ahead.

"Isn't she?" Steph repeated for him.

"This is getting embarrassing." Ranger told her.

When the elevator doors opened to the lobby a worried looking Vince was standing there with the blonde by his side.

"Hi." She said to Ranger happily waving from where she was standing behind Vince.

"Jessica." He answered her, walking towards her.

Behind him Steph was giving him a face for having known her name. She exchanged an eye roll with Vince, who went back to sitting behind the desk.

Ranger led her over to the other side of the room, where Stephanie was unable to make out what they were saying.

Jessica looked like she was on the verge of tears and Ranger looked exasperated. After about ten minutes Jessica nodded her head and left.

Ranger walked back over to Steph. Ranger rubbed a hand over his face and pushed his hair back away from his face, in frustration. "The next time you get a stalker I think we should look at her first, Babe."

"Me? Chances are you're the one that is going to be getting a stalker."

"Not me Babe, I leave the stalkers to you. Anyways I told her you were my wife and you weren't into the idea of having an open marriage."

"What?" Steph said her voice a little high. Then she huffed, "Just for that you are going to have to sit next to grandma tonight at dinner." She told him stalking back to the elevator.

"I don't which is worse not being able to catch her tailing me or knowing that I have to go to your parent's house for dinner tonight." Ranger quipped.

"After tonight you will know that dinner with my family is much worse, especially after I tell them you want an open marriage."

"Babe," Ranger groaned following her on to the elevator.

**THE END**


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